5 Steps to Become a Referral Magnet

The biggest challenge for any sales related professional, especially a new one is getting new business. By following these 5 steps, you will create the results that you have dreamed about.

1. Understand Where You’re At

Where to start? What hurdles do you need to overcome to get that first “deal”?

Whether you’re new or old to the industry, we’re all chasing after new clients. Even worst is when you’re new to your industry, you’re chasing after the same set of clients and therefore chasing after the same set of referral source. The primary source for a new mortgage broker is a realtor. Since the mortgage broker is new at her profession, she doesn’t know how to get her own clients so she would target realtors. Literally begging realtors for a piece of any business that she can get. Of course she doesn’t sprawl on the floor and beg but you get the picture. All realtors know this whether they’re new or a veteran. Most realtor don’t like to be cornered and this scenario feels just like it. The scenario being played out is not limited to new brokers. Most amateur professionals and networkers have the same mentality.

They don’t know how to add value or position themselves to make them be viewed as a valuable asset to the realtor’s team. All they can do is take, take and take. They have no idea how to help create new business to give back to their partners (ie. realtors). They don’t even know where to start. Their target (the realtor) probably feels like they are the next “meal on the table” for the mortgage broker.

Givers and Takers – That Relationship Highway Requires a lot of Juggling

The situation I have described above are those of the takers. Nobody likes a taker and most successful professionals would run away from them at the first opportunity. Nobody likes to be the next “meal ticket”.

Where are you at? Recognize which role you have been playing in the past and let’s change that.

Let me help you change this mindset from that of a taker to a giver and create those win-win-win situations.

For those that have been mostly giving, you should also make an adjustment since you are short-changing yourself and those around you. Win-lose-win is not a good proposition for anyone because sooner or later those relationships will break. Sooner or later the small crack will appear in those relationship. Even a saint would want time off and be recognized for their good deeds (even if he say he doesn’t). Who doesn’t appreciate recognition?

I want to share with you what I learned over the years and how you can become better than just a giver or a taker. Instead of always taking or always giving, You don’t have to follow my path but consider it if you are not experiencing win-win in networking with people. Learn what I have done and adapt it to your business and life style.

2. Understand It’s Not Just a Numbers Game

My first encounter with networking was when I first got involved in the financial services industry as a financial advisor. I attended countless social networking events, trade-shows, organizational events and seminars. Attending all of them with the sole purpose of getting new clients. I was told that it was all a numbers game. The more I go out, the more people I meet, the more business it would eventually create. Until I met a really great fellow named Randy. We spoke for a short bit about what I was doing and within minutes, he bluntly asked me, “How’s that working out for you?”

As most would agree with me, it wasn’t working that well. Matter of fact it wasn’t working at all. Every time you go to an event, it costs money (gas, food, entrance fee etc.) and the results are pretty pitiful. If I had sat down to analyze the money I had spent and the amount of business that came out of that, I would have realized that the ROI (return on investment) was very low.

There’s a famous saying: “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Little did I realize that 80-90% of the people that attended these networking functions were doing just exactly the same thing as I was! That’s sort of like going out to look for a girl at a dating event and 9 out 10 were guys in the room with you. I know you would laugh but most net-workers are currently doing it the wrong way and NOT recognizing this fatal flaw! At the time, it never dawn on me either that this was the case and I was in the same trap. Sometimes expectations don’t match reality.

3. Don’t Accept the Status Quo

“So, how’s that working out for you?” That simple question kept running in my head for many days after that fateful meeting. It seems when you are a sheep, critical thinking is thrown out the window. With this question, it gave me a reason to question myself and what I was doing. It pushed me to sit down and have a meaningful introspection. It made me question my intentions and how I want things to be rather than accept the status quo.

What I learned in the days following that has forever changed the way I do business and network with others at any event. I haven’t reached where I want to be yet and have barely scratched the surface on my ambitious goals. However, the little adjustments that I have made over the year has allowed me to position myself as the person that I wanted to attract into my circle. By being a giver and matchmaker instead of a taker, I became a center of influence. This is one of the key to getting all the referral business that you would ever need.

What does the wealthy people have that the poor people don’t? Do wealthy people have debt? Yes, matter of fact, they have many times more debt than most broke people. Do wealthy people think that vacations are cheap? No, of course not. They know it costs money. So then, why are they in so much debt and make so much money? Why do they take so much vacations if they know it costs a lot of money? I believe the answer to all of those types of question have nearly the same answer. It is how they perceive things and they do not accept the status quo.

I learned that wealthy people only take on debt when that debt has a purpose to create more wealth. Poor people on the other hand acquire debt that does not produce any monetary gain. As for vacations, the wealthy take them to go away to clear their mind so that they can refocus on their goals, plans or dreams. It has been proven that successful people take vacation to build their business (during) and after. During their vacation, they connect with other like minded business people. Their increased performance and business growth always occur after they come back from their vacation. Poor people on the other hand take few vacations and their “take it easy” attitude during the vacation only costs them money and contributes nothing to their financial future.

Lesson to be learned is to leverage your effort, money, and even your time spent on vacation. Whoever told you to “take it easy” on a vacation was already broke. Why take advice from a member of the “status quo”?

4. Become the Person You Want to Attract

In the beginning of my career as a mortgage broker, I yearned to get access to people who were the center of influence (COI). Having access to COI is every salespeople’s or net-worker’s dream. Why? COI’s usually have influence over a group of people that may buy whatever service or product that you have to offer. All they have to do is recommend your service or product. Because of their stature, most salespeople have targeted them for just about everything. I knew that attracting those people with my current resource would be difficult. During a business coaching event one day, a curious thought cross my mind. Why don’t I position myself so that I can become a COI??? What would it take? How can I learn to become a COI?

It occurred to me that all COI value one thing more than anything else. It was the value of time. Rich people, poor people, normal people and very important people all have the exact same time in a day. Nobody has more than 24 hours. When an opportunity came up to get close to a COI, I stepped up and seized my chance and volunteered to help. It did not matter what the capacity was. I yearned to learn. I understood that the value of my time to volunteer was invaluable in the mind of the COI. This was the start of my journey to become a COI.

I am currently the main organizer of the fastest growing real estate club in the Fraser Valley and the president of our local Toastmaster chapter (http://bit.ly/1Dy6eIN). Our humble real estate investment club is expanding and opening up new chapters in other cities. By the end of this year, we will most likely have 3 new chapters in the surrounding cities (including Vancouver). You can learn more about the group at Meetup.com/SynergyREIN

I am always open to helping anyone, ONLY if the intention is to help many other people with their goals and dreams. If you like to step up and be a part of our real estate investment network, the world will become your oyster!

5. Give Recognition and Show Gratitude

Most people would think that I was lucky or just in the right place at the right time. Perhaps, perhaps not. However it seems, I am eternally grateful for the people around me that have supported me and challenged me to be a better person each day. People have so much capacity to do spectacular things. Amazing things. I am grateful to have been part of many

I have a morning and evening ritual. Each day when I first open my eyes and before I go to sleep at night, I find at least 3 things to be thankful for and express it in words or write them down in my journal. If I am too tired at night, I silently think out loud in my head to give thanks and be grateful for everything that has happened that day.

It is rather strange but the more I recognize and give thanks, show my gratitude, show recognition to others, my life has really changed. It is as if everyone around me has changed. Just because I have changed. The more I give thanks and the more I give appreciation to others around me, the more I attract into my life.

I guarantee you that whatever you ask for in life, you will get more of. So best to focus more on what you do want instead of what you DON’T want!

Whatever you focus on more of each and every waking or sleeping minutes of your life, you WILL get more of. By showing your gratitude in the morning, day and night, you focus on that and take action to create more things to be grateful for. The more you focus on it, the more you will bring into your reality. I guarantee you!

Back to Randy. Now if Randy has asked me, “How’s that working out for you?” Today, I would give a much different answer. Thank you Randy for pointing me in the right direction. Whether you know it or not, it was all your fault 😉

If you need someone who can call your “bull” and straighten you out or if you are a slacker and need some accountability, I can point you in Randy’s direction. Just give me a shout.

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